Monkey-see, monkey-do is a powerful survival skill. For neurotypical people, it's easy to just reproduce learned behaviors, without the reasoning behind them. I find interesting parallels with generative AI. You see it a lot in creative pursuits especially. So many people totally miss subtext. I think you also see it a lot while driving.
And it's largely an education problem. There's no reason neurotypicals can't think critically, but it's much easier to teach them to just slot into a role without any real understanding (Religion is very good at this). I think that's also the reason conventional education can be so difficult for people that aren't neurotypical. It's meant to teach you what to do, not why
I definitely find myself to be at an advantage compared to most neurotypical people I have worked with. In aggregate though, the ease they have moving with the flow can end up being more of an advantage in the long term, especially in largely neurotypical spaces. It can be very frustrating
This guy stinks, but I agree that Trek is better with more episodes per season. Bring in more guest writers, and do cheaper episodes. Try weird stuff! Some of the best episodes are just are just two guys, sometimes one's an alien, talking in front of a camera
It's an AI food generator. All of its food is just a little bit bland, because it's the average of everything. They aren't storing entire patterns for a tomato for example, so they have to be recreated each time, and the replicator prints a homogenized food-shaped item, with all the same components, but none of the random environmental conditions and uncultivated genetic traits that lead to a flavorful fruit. Then that compounds further when you get into processed foods, or whole prepared meals. There's artistry there, that a computer can't match.
Maybe, to mitigate this, there are some recipes where they do save an exact pattern of real food a chef made, so the replicator can make a few things that are particularly good. The Lower Deckers do make a big deal of the mac and cheese with the breaded top.
You see it in the way they treat the holodeck too. When it's new, they have some fun with the computer generated scenarios, but all the best programs are the ones that they get from outside the ship, or that are made by a member of the crew. And they're a sought after commodity. Data is still trying to figure out art. The Doctor seems to have managed it, but the Federation is slow to acknowledge him. Maybe the answer is replacing replicated meals with food prepared by holographic chefs, using replicated ingredients with higher fidelity patterns, that you have room for, because you're no longer storing complex dishes
It also follows that, under these constraints, the captain, likely the role on the ship with the least turn over, would have the most customized shit. When the ship is in drydock, some lower deckers get transferred to other stations, and new ones come aboard, but the captain is pretty much always just hanging out. Makes sense they'd use that time for hobbies, and that they'd want that stuff in their quarters, which are, for the captain moreso than any other crew member, their home
As with all things, Starfleet of course has the have the unstable, bleeding edge version on their spaceships. I'm sure Vulcan holodecks are much safer lol
I do think we're supposed to recognize that Rom is actually very skilled though. We see it through Nog's opinion of him, and how well he does after he joins the Bajoran maintenance crew, despite his first initial awkward interactions. And restrictions often improve creativity in real life, so it makes sense to me that he'd have some unique skills, compared to engineers from Earth, who are used to being able to requisition anything they need eventually. You even see some of it aboard Starfleet ships, like when Geordie meets Leah Brahms, and has to defend all the changes he's made to the warp engines on the fly, or in the Upper Decks episode of Lower Decks, when Billups is teaching the ensign about maintenance.
It's part of the whole idea of the show, that these other people, even ones we might not initially get along with, have valuable perspectives. "Infinite diversity, in infinite combinations."
He basically got payed $10K per year in prison. The article calls that a paltry amount, but when the president is intentionally tanking the economy to distract from his crimes against humanity, defectors go on sale. I expect we'll be seeing a lot more of this
Turns out safety regulations are written in our blood